I quickly learned how charming he was and how convincing he was. As soon as I knocked on the door of room 1154 at Essex House, Pete Rose reached out, wearing a red sweater, a close-cropped haircut that looked straight out of a 1965 baseball card, and a bright smile. was on his face.
“Mike, I loved the column you did on the Knicks yesterday,” he said. This man, who had been abused by the press all his life (and continued to be abused), was the man who knew the quickest way to become a columnist. heart. “Do you think Don Cheney's replacement is being prepared?”
Of course, we weren't in this suite overlooking Central Park South to talk about Herb Williams and Lenny Wilkens and the Knicks. Rose had a new book coming out and was pitching. “My Prison Without Bars'' was rapidly disappearing from the shelves of bookstores in the city. In it, he finally put an end to the lie that by that afternoon Essex House was in its 15th year.
In a sense.
“You have to live with the cards you're dealt,” Rose said. This is an interesting metaphor, considering that the prison without bars he mentions is the result of a gambling addiction that had taken everything from him until about 15 minutes ago. reputation, his standing within the game, and his status in Cooperstown's Hall of Fame.
“This book was not published now to persuade.” [then commissioner] Bud Selig is bringing me back. ”
Of course that was also a lie. The last 35 years of Rose's life were a never-ending barrage of jabs and jibes, the acknowledgments of which were often incomplete. In 1935, Rose held a damp finger in the air, trying to gauge the direction of public opinion. That sad journey ended on Monday when he passed away at the age of 83.
Studying the numbers he left behind is breathtaking. His 4,256 hits are more than anyone who has ever played in the game, and 67 more than Ty Cobb, the man Rose relentlessly stalked until one magical night in his hometown of Cincinnati. That moment should be counted as one of the few snapshots that will remain forever in baseball history. He started crying and hugged his son Petey. It was beautiful.
But by then he'll also be the manager of the Reds, returning from exile in Montreal to set records and perhaps add a few more lines to his Hall of Fame plaque as captain. All we know, except what the damning Dowd Report revealed in excruciating detail, is that he had already started gambling. And even in games involving his team.
The first play was deny, deny, deny, only increasing the baseball's resistance. Sports knew very well how to hit baseball where it hurts the most. From his first year of eligibility, Rose's name never appeared on the Hall of Fame ballots issued to members of the Baseball Writers Association of America who have covered the sport for 10 years.
For years, I've been asked by friends, family, and strangers, “Why didn't you vote for Hall of Famer Pete Rose?”
The answer is always, “I didn't have a chance.” Baseball never allowed us to vote.
By 2004, Rose went in a different direction. he admitted what he had done.
“I'm not trying to justify my actions because I was wrong,” Rose said that day at Essex House. “I wish we had paid more attention to Paul Hornung and Alex Karas.” [both suspended by the NFL for the 1963 season because they’d admitted to gambling]. Maybe that was the problem, they only got a one year suspension. ”
As the years passed, baseball never wavered, even as the sport jumped with both feet into the bed of every gambling house, never coming to terms with how hypocritical it was. Rose never stopped pitching, showing up in Cooperstown every summer during Hall of Fame week to sign memorabilia. It was a horrible, ghostly fate.
Still, there was always a sense that Rose was never going to come clean. However, he is always smooth and can be very persuasive. he asked me that afternoon, 20 years ago, as we shook hands and said goodbye on Central Park South. If you could vote for me, would you vote for me? ”
I asked him. “Pete, let me ask you something. Did you bet on baseball as a player?”
he laughed. he said:
“I’ll say YES to that!”
This is what he didn't say: “I never bet on baseball as a player.”
